Easter HAF 2026 Timeline

🌟 The Ultimate Guide for Local Authorities for Easter HAF 2026

Stay organised with Eequ's timeline and checklist. ✏️ Fill in your own dates in the first column.

💡 Note: A good booking system supplier will guide your team seamlessly through to your DfE report day, letting you focus on running your programme like a pro. If you're not getting this support, speak to Eequ to supercharge your delivery cycles.

Date	Activity type	Activity details	Who?	Notes
❄️ Early Jan Your date here:	Key dates	Booking system workshop 1: 📆 Add key dates to your booking system supplier's project planning template: Booking launch, provider training, council training. Browse their handbook and templates for Privacy Notice & DPIA	🟦 Booking system supplier	📆 Your booking system supplier should work with you to fix key dates around their extensive training and support package.
❄️ Mid Jan Your date here:	Set up booking system	Booking system workshop 2: ❓ Customise your booking questionnaire. 🔎 Freshen up your main booking web page with a seasonal picture and Easter dates for parents.	🟦 Booking system supplier	❓Your booking system should allow you to customise your registration questions so they are the same for all providers. They should start you off with the best pick from other LAs. 🔎 Your council booking page should be discoverable early, to tell parents when Easter opens and keep them calm.
❄️ Mid Jan Your date here:	Grants Provider comms	Process grant applications. 📧 Send out crystal clear provider communication on booking systems, training and key dates	🟩 Council team🟦 Booking system supplier	✅ Your booking system supplier should provide a comms template and illustrated resources. 🥳 Providers will be relieved when they hear you've chosen a great system with tons of support planned. 🎉 Explain there are no data returns for them!
❄️ Late Jan Your date here:	Council training	Booking system workshop 3: 🎟 Set booking limits for each child. ✅ Switch on automatic eligibility checking. 📞 Handover all front-line support to your booking system provider.	🟦 Booking system supplier	🎟 Your booking system should let you decide how many sessions for each child and which children are eligible under your 15%. 📞 Make sure your booking system supplier handles all the parent and provider support calls and acts as a buffer so you can focus on delivery.
🧣 Early Feb Your date here:	Provider comms	💻 Award grants to providers and send them straight to the step-by-step digital onboarding flow for your Booking system supplier	🟩 Council team🟦 Booking system supplier	💻 Digitally competent providers can self-serve immediately 🚀 and less confident providers can start exploring the simple and attractive step-by-step flow 👀
🧣 Mid Feb Your date here:	Provider training	Offer 2️⃣ x 1.5 hour provider training workshops to learn about all the amazing features of your booking system. Allow providers to finish their set-ups in the workshop.	🟦 Booking system supplier	2️⃣ Your booking system provider should offer at least two sessions to ensure all provider's staff are well trained. One to one sessions should also be offered.
🧣 Late Feb Your date here:	Council training: Activity listings	Booking system workshop 6: 😍 Learn how to quality check provider activity listings. Add them to your public portal for parents to register interest. Add your funded sessions so you can see performance every day.	🟦 Booking system supplier	😍 Display listings early to build excitement. Your system should be automatically reminding parents to book just before bookings open. ✅ Now your system has data on every activity, all funding agreements and eligible children
🌷 Early March Your date here:	Council training: Bookings open	Booking system workshop 7: 🏁 Meet with your booking system supplier on the day bookings open. Learn how to use data to make discretionary decisions and fairly distribute your 15% quota.	🟦 Booking system supplier	✅ Your booking system should have a two step booking process : Eligibility check > Providers check ✅ Your booking system should handle vulnerable children that are not on the FSM list for some reason.
🌷 Late March Your date here:	Easter delivery begins	📊 Review your delivery performance data with live metrics. 📣 Click on any beautiful activity listing or your council page to share quickly to social media.	🟩 Council team🟦 Booking system supplier	📊 Your booking system should show you how every single provider is doing against their agreement on a daily basis so that you can jump in when needed to add more funding or support.
🐣 Early April Your date here:	Provider visits	🚗 Arrange provider quality assessment visits	🟩 Council team	📊 Quickly identify priority visits from the metrics on your booking system. Print off provider registers and performance summary data from your booking system to make informed visits to providers. Compare quickly against activity listing for efficiency.
🐣 Mid April Your date here:	Paying Providers	💰 Attend a reminder workshop on how to use your booking system to pay your provider seamlessly.	🟦 Booking system supplier	📊 Your booking system should display easy metrics for each venue on bookings, cancellations, attendances, unique children and more. It should show SEND numbers in case you pay differently for SEND attendances.
🐣 Mid April Your date here:	DfE report	📊 Submit Easter HAF DfE report. (Allow 30 mins.) ⚡️	🟩 Council team	⚡️ Your booking system should automatically compile your entire DfE report so that this task can be done over a cup of tea. ☕️
🐣 Late April Your date here:	Celebrate & Feedback	🥳 Attend a celebration and best practice sharing workshop with other LA's up and down the country. Brainstorm new features and help to continuously evolve the booking system to make HAF bigger and better 🚀	🟦 Booking system supplier	👂 Your booking system should show off all the features it has developed since the last delivery. It should listen to all the new wishes and ideas and connect the dots for all stakeholders in a collaborative forum. There should be time to connect, ideate and celebrate 💚

🐘 Don't forget:

A good booking system supplier will guide your team seamlessly through to your DfE report day, letting you focus on running your programme like a pro. If you're not getting this support, speak to Eequ to supercharge your delivery cycles.